Hydro-electric unit.



1.,G28 55- ii,

W. A. DOBLE.

HYDRO ELECTRIC UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1910.

Patented June 4, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

vwem for 2%; [Mess co g g 14 J W' W. A. DOBLE.

HYDRO ELECTRIC UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1910 1,928,554, Patented June 4,1912

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Wi l ams; a flit r12 onirnn sTAT s WILLIAM A. DOBLE, OF SAN FRANCISCO,CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 MAY E. DOBLE, OF SAN" FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC UNIT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June a, 1912.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it'known that L'WILLIAM A. Donna, .a citizen of the United States,and resident of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydro-Electric Units, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hydraulic mo-v tors, and units.

l/Vhen a water wheel is driven by a stream of water directed by a nozzleagainst it, itisfound that a partial vacuum is created in the housing,wheel pit and the tailrace. This partial vacuum prevents the water fromflowing freely out of the tailrace, and in shallow tailraces backs thedischarge water up to such an extent that interference of the wheel withthe discharge water takes place. In large units, the generator must bemounted so as to extend into a pit. The air in the pit will get hotv andfoul, rendering. the same uncomfortable to. the operator. There is alsothe more serious objection to the generators heating up, due to lack ofventilation in the pit, which not only reduces the efficiency of thegenerator,.owing to the greater resistance of the windings at the highertemperature, but also materially reduces the life of the generator, asthe excess heating gradually destroys the insulating value of thematerials used for that purpose, and in. time particularly tohydro-electric causes the generators to break down andburn out, whichcalls for expensive repairs beside loss of the use of the machine. Thesame is true of other station apparatus, as transformers, etc., somemeans must generally be provided for cooling the same especially wherethey are large.

One of the objects is therefore to provide an air inlet for the motorwhereby the vacuunimay be done away with.

I Another object. is'to provide means for ventilating the generator orother station apparatus. A I

Another object" is to so combine the means for obtainingfthe aboveobjects that the generator or other apparatus is ventilated by the motorand in turn supplies heat to the motor.

Further objects will appear from the detail description.

The invention will be described inconnec- -tion with the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a section through the wheel pit,tailrace and generator pit, parts of the machine being shown inelevation; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is aview similar to Fig. 1, but showing another form of this invention. 7

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 10 designates a water wheel and 11 anelectric generator, the movable element of which is connected to thewater wheel by means of a shaft 12, mounted in bearings 13. Thehydraulic motor is inclosed by the usual housing It and the wheel of themotor extends into the nozzle'and wheel pit 15, from which the water isdischarged into the tailrace. Generator 11 is mounted on its foundation,and

- partially extends into a generator pit 16. The division wall betweenthe wheel pit and tailrace, and the generator pit is provided with apassage B which connects the generator pit with the wheel pit and thetailrace. This passage is preferably provided with a suitable lining,and the motor terminal has extending over it a hood or protector 17,which prevents the water from being splashed into the passage. Thepassage walls are also provided with upwardly and downwardly extendingribs or plates 18 and 19, which form bailie plates, and thus pre ventthe water from being splashed into the generator pit. The lower ribs areprovided with staggered drain holes 20, which allow the-water which doesenter the passage to drain back into the tailrace. The generator pitterminal of the passageis provided with a plate or hood 21, so that thepassage opens into the lower part of the pit.

In Fig. 3, the air passage is shown as inclined downwardly toward thewheel pit and tailrace so that drainage will be facilitated. It is to beunderstood that the ribs are pro vided with drain holes 20 similarto'that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The construction is otherwise similar tothat shown in Fig. 1,

and further detailed description will therefore be unnecessary.

The direction of the air currents is shown by the arrows. The air willbe drawn from ,the generator pit, by the vacuum created in the motorhousing, wheel pit, and tailrace,

.and thus the generator pit will be 'thoroughly ventilated. This airpassage also reduces the vacuum in the motor casing and the tailrace. Itwill be noted that the air passage extends to the bottom of thegenerator pit, thus insuring a free circulation of air therein as theair will enter the pit above and will be discharged from below. Theprotecting hood and the ribs or bafiles prevent the water frombeingsplashed into the pit. I i

In addition to the advantages of ventilat-' ing and cooling thegenerator by drawing off the hot air, there is a further and very greatadvantage in this combination. In high altitudes, and in those countrieswhere they have cold winters, there is a great deal of annoyance causedby the freezing of the spray water discharged from the waterwheel. Whenthe .water is broken up into a spray by its action on the wheel,-itfreezes rapidly in low temperatures, but the discharge of the warm airfrom the generator into the nozzle and wheel pit of the waterwheel wouldentirely prevent this freezing. In some cases, to operate the wheels inthe winter time, it is necessary to put steam ,jackets around thewater-wheel nozzles. By

the use of the above described combination, the warm air discharged intothe wheel and nozzle pit is ample to make steam jackets entirelyunnecessary, and eliminates any possible danger of freezing, and thecost of a steam boiler and fuel to furnish steam in the jacket is alsodone away with. At the same time the generator or other stationapparatus is ventilated and cooled.

In the specific embodiment shown, the

hydraulic motor is of the impact type. This invention is, however, notnecessarily lim ted to this specific type of hydraulic motor, since itmay be applied to other types. It may in certain cases then be necessaryto provide any a blower todraw the" heat away from the generator orother station apparatus, and

discharge it around the motor, its entrance pipe and draft tube. Theheat from the station apparatus may be utilized to heat artof the motorso as to prevent the.

freezing, for instance, it may be used to heat the stand pipe which isconnected to the pressure pipe line.

In the specific embodiment shown, the air is drawn from the pit of thegenerator.

Where, however, the generator is small and does not extend into a pit,then the *air-maybe drawn through the base plate upon which thegenerator is mountedor a housing forthe generator. The base plater'nayin such cases be hollow, so as to. facilitate cooling.

A hydro-electric station" is" generally provided with different kinds ofenergy "trans-' forining apparatus, for instance, generators,

transformers, ".rotary converters, etc. In

some cases, where the flow of the stream varies, it is also the practiceto provide auxiliary apparatus for taking the peak Such auxiliaryapparatus may be steam driven unlts or may conslst of internalcombustion engines. Thelatter type of engines must necessarily becooled, and this cooling may in certain cases be accomplished by air.All of this station apparatus especially where the apparatus is of largesize must necessarily be provided with some means for cooling the same.In accordance with this invent1on,the station apparatus may be cooledand the heat may be utilized to heat the motor so as to facilitateproper operation. It will therefore be seen that the above combinationaccomplishes simultaneously two important results, namely, the coolingof the station apparatus, and the utilization of the heat'in the motor.

I load when the flow of the stream is low.

It is obviousthat various changes may be made in the details, ofconstruction without departing from this invention, and it is therefore,to be understood that this invention is not to"'be limited to thespecific construction shown and described.

, Having thusdescribed the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The combination motor, of a generator driven thereby, a pit with ahydraulicfor said generator, a housing for said motor,

and an air passage connecting said pit With said housing.

2. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driventhereby, a pit.

for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor, and an airpassage connecting the bottom of said pit with said conduit.

4 5. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driventhereby, a

for said generator, a discharge conduit said motor, .an an passageconnecting said plt withsaid conduit, and an extension for sa d passageextending to the bottom of said plt.

. 6. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driventhereby, a pit for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor,an air passage connecting said pit with said conduit, and bafiles insaid passage. a

. 7. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator-driventhereby, a pit for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor,an air passage connecting said pit with said conduit and having anextentil sion to the-bottom of said pit, and a hood over the opening for saidpassage into said conduit.'

8. The combination with a hydraulic motor and a discharge conduittherefor, of an air inlet for said conduit, said inlet incliningdownwardly toward said conduit, and ribs extendin from the lower wall ofsaid inlet, said ribs being provided with drain holes.

9. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motorand other station apparatus, of a casing for said motor, and a conduitleading from said casing to said apparatus for conveying air from saidapparatus to the'interior of the casing.

10. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motorand other apparatus, of a casing inclosing said motor, means inclosingsaid apparatus, and a conduit connecting said casing and said inclosingmeans whereby air may be conducted from the inclosing means to theinterior of the casing, for the purpose described.

11. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motorand other energy transforming apparatus, of a casing for said motor,means inclosing said apparatus, and means connecting the in,- terior ofsaid inclosing means with the interior of said casing whereby the vacuumin said casing will induce air to flow from said inclosing means to saidcasing, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. DOBLE, Witnesses:

FREDERICK GFELLER, LEOPOLD M. KARNAsoH.

